Within the United States, many utilities are either upgrading to automated smart meters or are planning to do so. These digital meters provide intelligence and additional functionality and work in support of SmartGrid initiatives. To support this upgrade, utilities will need to be able to manage meter installation and to automate the tracking of meter numbers in their customer information systems.
Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI) is a term referring to electric meters that measure and record energy usage data on a predefined schedule through various communication media. The infrastructure includes hardware, software, communications, meter data management software and associated customer systems. The meters in an AMI system are often referred to as smart meters, since they can use collected data based on programmed logic.
A smart meter is an advanced meter that identifies energy consumption in more detail than a conventional meter, and that can communicate with a local utility via a communications network for energy usage monitoring and billing purposes. Once the smart meter program is fully deployed by an energy service provider and its subsidiary utilities, smart meters will allow customers to mange energy consumption by providing detailed energy usage information and rate options.